Stress has now become a common part of modern-day life.  As per a top heart doctor who specializes in Heart Failure Surgery in Delhi, stress can be triggered by work pressure, a personal challenge, or emotional strain. Chronic stress can adversely affect the body, especially the heart. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are released because the human body is under constant tension, which can lead to high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, and inflammation in the arteries. This leads to the gradual development of hypertension, heart diseases, and other cardiovascular complications. Stress management not only supports mental well-being, but it is also relevant to heart health.

Stress Affects Heart and Overall Health 

Cumulative stress not only affects your mind, but it also affects your body slowly. When stressed, the body releases adrenaline, speeding up the heart rate and increasing blood pressure. The natural stress response, the fight-or-flight mechanism, comes in handy for emergencies; unfortunately, the repeated activation of such an inborn response over time can be harmful. 

Chronic stress may also lead to high blood pressure as one of the central risk factors for heart failure and stroke.

There are strong correlations between good mental health and good heart health. Often to cope with stress, many people switch to unhealthy habits like smoking, overeating, lack of physical activity, and skipping medications. 

All of those behaviors, together with the undeniable physiological toll stress inflicts on your body, such as poor sleep, fatigue, and inflammation, increase your risk of heart disease and, eventually, heart failure.

A negative mental state is related to maladaptive underlying physiological processes such as cardiac dysrhythmias, increasing blood pressure, or decreasing coronary blood flow. But when the healthy mental state is healthy, it leads to mindfulness and gratitude, which lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation, and there is less risk of heart failure.

So, what can be done?

Stress management goes beyond feeling better mentally; it is an active step toward protecting the heart against stressors. Exercise, healthy sleep, social support, and constructive interventions such as meditation or hobbies can erase the adverse effects of stress on the heart.

Your heart listens to your mind. So managing stress is a necessity. 

If stress is interfering with your well-being and heart health, then do not delay. Seek professional advice from a Heart Surgery Doctor in India, Dr. Sujay Shad, to learn more about ways to keep your heart healthy. Consult him for details.